Massive fire destroyed 12 trailers full of donations in Colorado

October 26, 20210

A dozen trailers full of donations burned down at Goodwill on Monday. The fire occurred on October 25 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at about 5 a.m.

“We got a report of a trailer that was on fire at the Goodwill [at Hancock and Academy],” said Colorado Springs Fire Department spokesperson Capt. Mike Smaldino. “We have a station that’s right up the street, and when they left the station, they could see a glow in the air.”

By the time crews reached the scene, the flames had spread to more semi-trailers, mainly due to their close proximity in the parking lot, Smaldino said.

“In total, there are 26 trailers that are back there; 12 of them had fire in them at some point or are still on fire right now [at 7:15 a.m.]. … They’re just all close to each other, so when one’s on fire, the fire as it gets outside the box just spreads to the next one.”

“It sounds like they were all completely full. So what we’re doing, we’re working with Goodwill right now trying to get the uninvolved trailers out of there so we can kind of narrow it down and, start unfortunately, pulling out all that furniture and clothing that are in those trailers.”

Fire investigators and police are now looking into information that someone was in the area when the fire started. A police sergeant said one of the callers said the arson was deliberate.

“We’re working with police right now trying to figure out with witnesses, what they saw,” Smaldino said. “… They’re trailers that have been sitting out there, so we don’t know if there was any sort of ignition source that’s out there, so something that would have started it on fire.”

This particular Goodwill is a retail support center, a hub for goods and materials that then get transported to Goodwills across the state. This was why so many trailers were on site.

“It opened in June 2014 and supports Goodwill’s statewide retail and donation center operations — including a “Buy the Pound” outlet for bulk sale of clearance merchandise; fleet transportation and dispatch hub; donations collections, processing and distribution; recycling and salvage; and other essential operational support services,” a spokesperson for Goodwill Southern Colorado said.

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